1940 - age 39 Part 2

Now our family was split up in three places: my parents and brother's family in Huangmei, although occupied by the Japanese, because the farm areas are isolated, transportation was very inconvenient so fortunately was not disturbed by the Japanese army; and my wife and three kids lived in Shanghai inside the French Concession, more or less safe; I by myself living in Ganzhou, both my work and private life were pretty comfortable. My main job was at Yumin Bank, I also had another job with the China Tea Company. Yumin Bank paid me pretty well. This year, we got a bonus of $4,380. I put this money into the bank savings account. All the bank employees got high-interest rates and the China Tea Company paid me $280 every month, I also had a bonus of $2300. So my income was pretty good. In the spring, I had planned to bring my mother to Ganzhou so I could take care of her. Because of wartime, the transportation wasn't good and it's even harder for old people to travel far. My mother also could not bear to leave her home. That's how my plans were unfulfilled. Next, I traveled to Shanghai because at that time there were boats traveling between the inner city and Shanghai so I planned to take the boat.

There was a Nanchang Printing Company, the president was Mr Den. He also moved his factory to Ganzhou. He needed to buy some supplies in Shanghai and he came to visit me to discuss a transfer of funds. He knew that I had family in Shanghai so he asked me to travel with him. At that time, General Manager Mr Du approved this suggestion and my absence from my work in Yumin Bank. He gave me a month's leave. So on July 16, I and Mr Den took the bus from Ganzhou to Nancen. In Nancen, Mr Den learned of some road closures between there and Shanghai so we waited several days in Nancen. The roads remained closed so we had to return to Ganzhou. Our bus needed some repairs. On the 21st, we started traveling again. That day was my birthday and in the morning, because of traveling, I only drank a glass of water. I spent my birthday on the bus. At noontime, we arrived at a place where Mr Den treated me to lunch at a restaurant. The food was very good. So it was my birthday dinner. Every birthday, I usually think about my mother. I think that I didn't have a chance to take care of her. A lot of times, I shed tears about this. On that day at 3PM, we arrived in Ganzhou. I canceled my leave and returned to work.

In the suburbs of Ganzhou, there's a famous tourist spot called Yugu Pagoda. In the Tang Dynasty, the governor was named Li Mian. He came to Yugu Pai. This spot has been the subject of many historical poets and many people have written poems about this place. The year before, I was going to go from Ganzhou via Hongkong to Shanghai, I was waiting in Guangzhou for four days. During those four days, I made a trip to Yugu Pai. So I had a good impression of that place. And I also wrote a poem in my collection.

Chiang Jieshi's oldest son Jinguo came back from Russia and Chiang Jieshi wanted him to have more experience so he assigned Jinguo to Jiangxi Province to serve under Governor Shong who assigned him to serve as Fa'ansiling (security) Vice Commander. Later on, he assigned him to the provincial government. Jinguo usually worked very hard and was devoted to all the people, especially the lower level people like factory workers and farmers. He was well respected by all the farmers and factory workers. At that time, our bank printed currency of $.50 by a printing company. This printing company also moved over from Nanchang to Ganzhou. One day I went to take a look at the factory. All the workers mentioned Jinguo. They didn't say "Mr Jinguo", they always called him "our special supervisor". He was well respected among all the workers. When we had the mid-autumn festival, Jinguo threw a huge party for all the lower workers and army and families. He treated everybody to a huge dinner. Eight people to a table, and at every table a local dignitary, the other seven were farmers and soldiers. I was also assigned to a table. At my table, everybody was an older farmer. I came from a poor farming family so felt very close to them. They all spoke Ganzhou dialect and I can only speak Jioujiang dialect so we couldn't communicate very well. The Special Supervisor gave a speech, it went very long. He said during the mid-autumn festival, we drink three kinds of wine: one kind is the wine made of blood because our soldiers are still at war; the second kind made by sweat because the farmers and factory workers were working so hard; the third kind made by tears, our whole nation wanted to fight the intruders and we were all working together to wash out the oppressor. After he said this, everybody was very touched. I always remembered his speech. Every time I had a chance to talk with friends, anyone who had been at this dinner remembers that. We always said Chiang Jieshi has someone to continue the work, like Solomon succeeding David. Later on, China's central government fled to Taiwan and Chiang Jinguo became the sixth president. We always recalled the time when we heard him. 

[Mom: Educated in Russia, he probably became a Communist. Jinguo really wanted the poor people to become wealthier and have better lives. He wasn't corrupt, wanting a lot of money for himself. He wasn't into drinking smoking and operas. He lived a very frugal life, eating vegetables.]

1939 - age 38 Part 4; 1940 - age 39 Part 1

The general manager of the Yumin Bank is getting pretty old and unhealthy; a lot of the heavy jobs he could not perform. From the beginning of this year, before we retreated from Nanchang, the general manager Mr. Chen went to Chongqing to attend a conference. He took his family with him and they did not go through the chaotic retreat from Nanchang to Ji'an. After we settled in Ji'an, he returned from Chongqing and came to Taihe. They settled down pretty well and had the sedan chair transportation in place. For him, everything was comfortable and smooth, the bank was operating normally. There were lots of detailed things that I and several other colleagues managed. At this time, a famous dentist arrived in Fujian. Our general manager had some dental work he needed to be done so he traveled to Fujian to see this dentist at the beginning of October. Every detail and operational responsibility fell on my shoulders. At the beginning of November, the general manager wrote me a letter of resignation. He had been the general manager at the bank for five years and the net worth of the bank had increased from 700,000 to 40,000,000, so he made a great contribution. The headquarters in Shanghai assigned Mr. Du to become our new general manager. At this time we were in Taihe and needed to retreat again to Ganzhou. Unfortunately, there were no mansions to house our banking needs in Ganzhou, only a Confucian' temple. It was pretty big but old and run down and needed a lot of repairs. After we completed repairs, we used a huge curtain to separate the devotees' ceremonial space from our working area. That's how we worked in Ganzhou.

This year in summary from the beginning: I attended Yuming Bank's retreat from Nanchang to Ji'an, then to Taihe; Shuyuan was born; we also established the China Tea Company. Also, Mr. Chen resigned, and afterward, we moved to Ganzhou. That's how we passed this year of the war.

1940 - age 39 Part 1

Last year during the spring, our bank retreated from Nanchang to Ji'an and then to Taihe. At the end of the year, we moved from Taihe to Ganzhou. Before we rented the Confucian temple, we rented an elementary school. The board member Mr. Chou was an excellent cook and very hospitable. He often cooked lots of delicious food to entertain friends. (Mr. Chou emphasized the importance of how you cook with heat. Guests had to arrive very punctually. He cooked to be ready exactly at the time the guests were supposed to arrive. If you arrive late, you don't have a chance to eat the delicacies and have to eat fried rice instead. One of his famous dishes is White Add Fish Heads: using freshly caught fish heads, add a lot of ingredients, and then drain the moisture, marinate, put in a huge pot with soup. After the soup boils, you add cold water into the soup, and after it boils again, you add more cold water. Do like this several times and then you take the fish heads out and eat them right away, otherwise you can't leave it there to sit. Mr. Chou and I are very good friends so while I was in Ganzhou I enjoyed White Add Fish Heads several times.)

After we moved to Ganzhou there were two things that are not very good. One is inflation, everything got more expensive. Another thing is that people are very purposeless, unfocused on any specific job. For instance, inflation: when you go to a book store to buy a book, between the time you order it and when it arrives, the price increased by three times. The same happened to clothing and everything else. [My mom remembers this inflation as a child and it was scary.] At Yumin Bank, on the board, there were people with various opinions. And our new general manager was a nice but weak person; many colleagues were loyal to different parties and there was infighting, so there wasn't much progress. He is only one person, there's no way you can get rid of these different parties and systems. So our bank does not have a good outlook. When I look back to when I first joined the bank, General Manager Chen resigned and Mr Yan left at Taihe so there's not much progress. Our neighboring province of Fujian, close to the coast, had lots of overseas Chinese families. Because of the overseas relatives in Fujian, their provincial government had lots of talented people to work for them. Because of our poor outlook, Fujian seemed like a better prospect to me. I received a letter on January 29 from Mr. Chen from Fujian. This Mr. Chen had heard about my work experience and appreciated many of my accomplishments. So I made the decision to leave Jiangxi to go to Fujian. Just at that time, Yumin Bank had a project with the Fujian provincial government. So general manager Du assigned me to Fujian to negotiate. On the 27th of February, I traveled to Ruijin and arrived at the Fujian Changting branch. On the 28th I arrived in Longyan and visited Mr. Chen. He introduced me to the Fujian governor Chen Yi and we spoke for two hours and had a very pleasant visit. On March 2, I traveled from Longyan to Nanping. On the 3rd of March, from Nanping, I returned to Guangze. On the 4th of March from Guangze to Nanfeng. Nanfeng had branches of both our banks. On the 6th of March, I traveled from Nanfeng back to Ganzhou. 

[Japan occupied Taiwan for fifty years. After WWII, Taiwan was returned to China. The Chinese Central government sent Chen Yi and my grandfather to receive Taiwan back from Japan. Says my mom, "My dad always told us how good Chen Yi was, so good and upright and hardworking and efficient. So unlike other politicians who were lazy and corrupt."]

In order to get rid of our colleagues' bad practice of faction fighting and to keep our coworkers abreast of technology and current knowledge, we formed a training class and gave lessons on history, geography, business management, international trading, and banking laws. Every training is a half-year per section, without tuition. It didn't matter if you were a man, a woman, old, or young; we settled on 120 students for this training. At the end of the training, if your score is good, the bank would hire you. If you were already a bank employee, the bank will give you a promotion. At the beginning of the training class, I gave an address encouraging everyone to study hard. I also gave a lecture on banking law; my class was welcomed by the students. After beginning this class, we had very good results. Everyone learned a lot of new things and also became more harmonious. So to rid parties and sectors, our bank benefitted from this training. Later on, when I left Jiangxi for Fujian, all these students formed a farewell party to appreciate me. Also, afterward, we had a group picture of everybody and this photo I still have with me. 

[The sad thing is Chen Yi, after they received Taiwan, there were lots of things to start. He did quite a good job. But unfortunately in 1949 when Jiang Jeishi fled the mainland for Taiwan, he thought Chen Yi was a traitor or agent for the communists and had him executed. The Guomingdang killed a lot of people. Fifty or seventy years later, one of his assassins came forward and said they were sent to Chen Yi saying he was called to see Jiang Jieshi. He was very obedient and showered and put on clean clothes, then they took him to a place and executed him.]